Lone Stars
by Karen's song
Summary: They were both lonely, both isolated. She is bothered by it, he isn't. Yet she is determined to make him turn around. Can the redhead catch the number four's emerald green eyes? Ulquiorra x OC
1. How Shooting Stars Fall

_They surrounded her, just a bunch of power hungry animals. Driven by basic instincts, drawn to power, the foolish things think they can defeat her._

_No, foolishness does not cover it, the white hollow looks away, knowing perfectly well what is going to happen. His companion is a Vaste Lorde after all._

_A strong one at that._

_Her hair is scarlet under the moon, flowing without any wind. Eyes half closed, she couldn't possibly careless about what's coming. She sighed into the wind. The white hollow turns away, he knew exactly what's coming, the blood and carnage. The silent fight that will ensue, and end in seconds. And the desperate flight of those who remain..._

_But the worst is when she stands alone among the blood, with eyes and hair that matched the ground around her. Shoulders hunched and the complete, utterly defeated stance of her silhouette. _

_And the tears, he can't stand the hidden tears. The rain that falls from her ruby like eyes. Looking utterly painful. Gladly, he doesn't have those emotions._

_All he has is the void._

_Well... Her hand is on her sword, it can't be long now. He stood a distance away, watching his only companion as she stood in the circle of hunters. Her reiatsu still suppressed, her sword sheathed._

_The wind stilled, holding its breath, waiting, waiting._

_Long scarlet hair flowing, hiding the moon from his view. She is the only one with color in this desert, except his eyes._

_But that doesn't mean anything either._

_And then, frenzy. They leaped towards her, predators in their own right. Yet no where close, he moved a bit farther. While the scarlet haired woman have no chioce but to fight, the man did._

_He saw no meaning in this fight._

_No need to fight, no sensation. He feels nothing, does nothing._

_Crash! A Vaste Lorde lands in the space before him, he looked at the white hollow, and grinned._

_"Ah, seems like I found her toy..." Hands outstretched, the lord came towards him. Toy... Such a weird word. He looks back towards his companion, locked in battle with a dozen of her would be killers. Surely he meant more to her than just a toy, and he feels a little something for her. No... it's gone. It must be nothing then... Void, like he always is and always will be._

_Non-existence is happiness. He's sure._

_A sound... The white hollow snaps to attention at drawn sword of the lord. He didn't care, death was no concern to him. Happiness is nothingness. Would he achieve happiness if he just died, and faded away? The white hollow watch as the scarlet haired one dart in front of him, leaping with grace at the offender._

_He watched as they struggled back and forth. A utterly worthless fight._

_Nothing has meaning, the scene before him, reflected in his eyes is nothing. What isn't reflected does no exist. He turned and walked._

_Walk walk walk walk walk..._

_A tree looms before him, twisted and gloomy. A pure white mess of spikes that is a tree. The beauty, it was the closest he had seen to the void. The beauty of being completely, and utterly empty._

_He wanted it, wanted it desperately, to reach it._

_And he did, falling in to the tree, pieces of his mask broke. Yet there's no need to care, no purpose. The pain is temporary, he will sink in to nothingness, like he always desired. The pieces fell, leaving the black of his hair. _

_A spark of scarlet was the last thing he saw. Familiar yet no longer remembered. _

_The loner pushes it out of his thoughts. There's no need to remember. The void blissfully calls to him. Then... he remembered no more..._

* * *

_A step, and she stepped towards the white tangled mess. Desperately, the woman looks around, trying to find any signs of him... Any._

_He's important to her, yet she will never admit it. A flash of white, a piece of his mask laying on the sand. She lunged towards it, throwing herself to the sand dune that contained the only trace of him left to her._

_A piece of the horn of his mask. Rising in a curve, high and sharp. Ending gracefully to its peak. She close her hands around the base of it, the broken edge a throne in her conscience. _

_He's gone..._

* * *

_The man sat upon the throne, smirking before the Vaste Lordes kneeling in front of him. A shinigami in the Huedo Mundo sticking out like a sore thumb._

_She kept her eyes respectfully lowered, yet her heart rebels in anger. She came for him. Because she sensed his reiatsu, because she saw a trace of the familiar emerald eyes. She will bow to this man for the white hollow that once left her._

_For here he would be close._

_Cuatro, Ulquiorra._

_"Your number is zero." She nods, scarlet hair falling around her shoulders. Her ruby red eyes gleam in the shadows, brighter than stars. The woman radiated power, Aizen smirked. It didn't matter why she choose to pledge her loyalty, as long as she did. _

_The hate in her eyes is well concealed, hidden behind an emotionless front._

_For him..._


	2. Along Comes A Blue Wolf

**I'll admit, the fanfic's name is stolen off of a Norah Jones song. But she's a terrific singer! Anyway, I wrote the first (well actually prologue) chapter last night. When I looked back today, it sounded pretty depressing. I really wanted to sound like Ulquiorra is talking, and drew a lot of inspiration from the backstory "****_Not Be, But Be" _****I hope I succeeded, although that would be up to you guys to decide! Please leave reviews 3 3 3. **

**Also I think I spelled "Hueco Mundo" as Huedo Mundo... ha... I'm sorry Q_Q**

**Ulquiorra:"Bothersome woman..."  
Author:"Right right... _ I apologized already."**

**On the other hand, I got my first review on the site, ever from this story. I MUST CELEBRATE *-*! I'll remember you forever Leyshla Gisel, well I'll try to anyway... that name is hard to spell o-o how would you even pronounce it?**

**Enough blabbering! Please feel free to ask questions~ Reviews reviews *Q* 333 Also thank you for the follows eve-chan 97, Leyshla Gisel, and thank you TenraiTsukiyomi for the favorite!**

**I'll go and rejoice now. **

**Redhead:"Fine, I'll tell the dang story, you even forgot to write in my name"  
Author: *Somewhere in the distance* "I gave you one at least."  
Redhead: *throws a knife into the darkness* "Let's go Ulquiorra, you are a part of this too." *drags away*  
Author: *bleeding profusely* "Such a cute couple." *feints***

* * *

She looks so familiar, standing there.

He almost wish he can remember. It's been a long time since he's been curious. Ulquiorra turns, he wish she will go away. The woman is causing a stir in him, and he doesn't like it. Emotions shouldn't exist and wouldn't, not for him. He just wants the void. Hueco Mundo is beautifully white, void and empty of all colors. The walls, the floor, it's all blissfully empty, blank.

Except her. Her scarlet hair and gem red eyes set the space around her on flames, dyeing the air red and fine. So bright and fiery it was painful. And she's walking towards him.

It didn't matter anyway, all is simply passing. His actions, and hers, bear no meaning. Aizen-sama's plot holds no meaning either. He's simply following because there's nothing else to do.

A light tap on the shoulder from a warm hand.

"Hello." A casual greeting from a modulated, clear alto voice. He looked to his left and found a pair of rubies glittering.

"Hmph." The green-eyed boy looked at her, completely devoid of emotions.

"Sola, number ten, please to meet you." Her eyes are focused at him, searching for something.

Ulquiorra had a slight moment of wondering what on earth the woman can be searching for before he mentally kicked himself. It didn't matter, it shouldn't. Yet when he saw her, all in scarlet and hair flowing like liquid silk down her back... He had to admit it intrigued him a little. He blinked, the black haired boy turned away.

"Ulquiorra, number four." Walking slowly but steadily, he leaves her in the hall, sighing.

He has forgotten her, memories suppressed and discarded. She knew this already, yet why does it hurt so much? It's been so long. Yet never a single second has he escaped her memories in all of those years. Never. Year after year, she remembers him. The lonely stance in his shoulder, the most alluring color of his eyes. The strong hands... She trailed off, the memory too intimate and important to be thought about, now that she is only a discarded memory in his mind.

He would think those feelings are useless, wouldn't he... Sola smiled mockingly. She knew this from the beginning. Even before she knelt before the insufferable shinigami named Aizen, before she pledged her loyalty. Sola did it all for him. She would do it again, she would do anything, as long as she gets to see those emerald eyes.

They were her solace in her loneliest hours. A piece of a mask glittered in her hand, she held it to the moonlight.

"What cha got there." A masculine voice slurred. A motion of her hand the white piece of matter is no more. Too fast, he thought, to see what she had hidden, nor where she hid it.

"Nothing that would interest you." She said curtly and turned, scarlet hair trailing behind her in a massive, bloody waterfall. The espada had found her with her bangs over her face. The woman looked worried, holding a piece of white material into the moonlight. Oddly intrigued, he had walked up toward the redhead.

"I wouldn't say that." He licked his lip, his gaze running up and down the soft, gentle curves of her body. The woman is slim and willowy. Delicate build, she wasn't tall, yet something about her suggested wild, uncontrollable power. He stepped, and stood in front of her.

The full look of her face took his breath away for a second, and his heart skipped a beat. The girl was drop dead gorgeous in a straightforward, down to earth kind of way. Wild and messy bangs framed her pale face. Her lips are full, a luscious, cherry red. A straight high nose led up to a wide, large set of eyes. Long eyelashes that framed her eyes were a darker red than her hair. Everything about her scream flame, fierce, burning fires.

Her eyes were the most intriguing things about her. They were a bloody, stunningly bright ruby like color. The pupils were snake-like, like black slits. Yet when someone looked closely, they can see specks of orange and gold surrounding the pupils. On anyone else they would have looked disturbing.

On her, they looked weirdly fitting, adding to the exotic quality of her image.

"What's your name?" Her number is printed on the left side of the woman's neck. The hole that all hollows have is located between her collar bones. Ten, isn't too bad. A simple shirt hugged her figure, a jacket complimented her curves nicely as they fell down her back, ending slightly above her knees. The redhead's long legs were graced with a pair of loose shorts, clinging to her lower thighs.

"Sola." She smiled, a bitter, sad smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Pleased to meet you" She said eyes bore in to his. He found himself completely and utterly ensnared by the two twin jewels, shaking himself loose, he turns sideways and stared out of one of those impossibly big windows on the side of the wall. Sola, she who walks alone... The woman was pure magic, and she doesn't even seem to know it.

"Ah, what a terrific name. I am very much, charmed." Grimmjow said slowly, letting each syllable drip off of his tongue. She looks at his profile curiously. Number six shifted his eyes towards the woman. "I'll cya around." He nods at her and walks away quickly.

Sola pauses, looking at the man's shadow. Blandly she turns to the window, sighing at the beauty of the moon, her calling. Numbly, she detected other presences yet couldn't bring herself to care. Too many things clouding and jarring in her mind to care about the blue haired man that is walking away. Sola the Lone Star, She who walks alone. The redhead despises her name, it suits her too much.

If only she was a real star...

Maybe she wouldn't care about the terrible, aching loneliness.

* * *

**Wow, that was really hard to write... I had writer's block all day. Please leave a review! This chapter took so long. Please reward my efforts? *tries best puppy dog face*  
****Ulquiorra:"Whatever you are trying to do it's not working."  
Author: Dx  
Sola: "..."  
Author:" Say something to defend me!"  
Sola:"Why."  
Author:"Because." *puts on Darth Vader mask, "I am your mother... In a sense... well..."  
Sola:"Ulquiorra what you said was mean."  
Ulquiorra:"Hmph."  
Author: T_T  
Sola:"On another note, Author does not own bleach or any of its characters."**

**Well, on that note, see you till next time~ Love all that read/favorited/reviewed and followed this story!**


	3. When the Memories Catch Up

**Yay I actually got two reviews for the last chapter 3 I love you all! Muah! Muah! *makes kissing noises* I LOVE YOU GUYS! *mom stares at me weirdly*  
*cough* anywayysssssss... I was getting help from a real life friend (gabi16love, she writes Harry Potter fanfics! Go check it out and show support please ;) ) about how this should go. Since I don't think Ulquiorra would be very affectionate, and I really didn't want to make Sola throw herself at the boy.  
Sola:"That sounds like a good idea though!"  
Author:"_"  
Sola:"I'm kidding! Kidding!"  
Continuing on that train of thought, I thought, why not make a love rival! And Grimmjow is... *Q* *cough* He was a good candidate. **

**But thanks to Gabi... I got a better idea.**

**Who wants a harem? :D **

**eve-chan 97: ty so much for the review xD I'm happy you liked it! I'm not sure if I can update it as I am now, since I'm doing prep school and such but I'll try my best! Hope I don't disappoint you. And please make suggestions as well!**

** Leyshla Gisel: You like Grimmjow better? xD I mean, my favorite is between Ulquiorra and Shuuhei Hisagi, but Grimmjow is awesome too *^*! He will probably appear often xD But I very much intend to let Sola end up with Ulquiorra. If I feel like it, I'll write a fanfic for Grimmjow! It seems like it would be less work, since he's more... uh, brash? It would be easier to develop the story. He is drool worthy though c:  
Anyway, enough ranting, I'll rant more at the bottom.**

**Ulquiorra:"Can I shut her up please?" *draws Murcielago*  
Author:"O_O EEEEK"  
Sola:"We need to keep her for the story just gag her."  
Author:"T_T How could you Sola, I created you I thought you were on my side."  
Sola:"Love conquers all."  
Author:"You rub everything in my face don't cha ._."  
Ulquiorra:". . ."  
Author:"Right, right story story..."**

* * *

_The white hollow looked on as the three Vaste Lordes charged back and forth in the sky, swords gleaming. _

_The redheaded girl ducked high into the air as the two lunged at the same time, two swords side by side. The girl's foot shoots down and kicks one of the two opponents into the other, leaving the two reeling and cursing. Without giving either of them a single second of respite, she fires off two ceros in rapid succession. The blonde canceled out her cero with one of his own. The other dove through the air to the side, howling as the red cero grazed the tip of his arm. A thick second hung in the air and both of the offenders launched themself at the lone Vaste Lorde. For a second it looks like they were going to impale the girl. _

_Her sword flashed as it clashed against her opponent's. The force pushes the redhead back, sending the girl flying before she can stop herself. The two rushes at her, one above and one below. Rolling in the air, the victim manage to avoid the first blade as it cuts off strands of her scarlet locks. Yet the blonde has some luck. The girl's block wasn't quick enough and the blonde's blade buried its edge into her shoulder. She gave a gasp that his enhanced hearing was able to catch. Kicking up, the attacked dislodged her attacker and barely dodged the thrusting sword that came below her. Doing a cartwheel, the woman stands and retaliated by jabbing her sword down._

_The blade hisses through the air as it fell unforgiving towards its mark and embedding itself in the black haired Vaste Lorde's throat. Blood sprayed and the man couldn't even make a sound as he dissolved. Yet even as the girl attack the offender, the blonde has darted down. His sword flashes and it found its mark embedded in to her skin. Her blood mingled with the defeated lorde's. His face still dissolving away as it fell. The female Vaste Lorde screams, the sound fills the air and the distant watcher falls to his knees as his keen hearing became overwhelmed with sound. The girl limps, blood dripping down her back, struggling to stay in midair, the woman chokes, stagger._

_Ulquiorra looks away, it is going to end. He has an odd, sinking feeling in his heart he never felt before. This woman is weirdly intriguing. He begins to move toward them, even if there's nothing to do._

_The white hollow just wanted to move there._

_With a confident smile, the male Vaste Lorde lifts his sword above his head, ready to deliver the kill blow. The defeated knelt at the his feet, panting. The sword was flashes down._

_A light flashes, bright and powerful as her cero fired off. The would-be-victor only had seconds to look surprised before dissolving completely into ash. With eyes closed, the wounded victor landed with a thud on the ground. Eyes closed, lips tightly shut, she laid upon the desert sand, bleeding slowly. _

_The ashen hollow walked until he stood in front of the scarlet haired Vaste Lorde, and reaches down slowly._

* * *

_The unbearable darkness, she was losing herself in it. The redhead looked weakly into the deep silence but could find nothing. The tip of Sola's lips perked up, she wasn't sure if she should be glad it's all over or cry that she's on the verge of death. _

_Maybe she should be glad... Day and night she never had peace. Sola's power always drawn hollows to her like moth to a flame. Each opponent stronger than the last, and she was tired of being unable to rest. Yet that wasn't the issue that bothered her the most. Sola sighed into the darkness. It's cold, she thought, it has been so long since Sola felt the sensation. _

_It's better this way, the redhead sighed into the darkness, her red hair like a flaming light in the perpetual night. She was falling apart anyway. Sola is at the end of her ropes, her wits, and her sanity. The fight with two vaste lordes close to her level has brought her defenses crumbling like glass. Sola screamed, repeatedly, trying to escape the silence._

_What if it's something never to be escaped, this deep darkness, empty, empty empty. Just her alone with unspoken words, the hurt the loneliness the pain. Can't take it can't take it can't take it._

_A cool touch on her forehead. _

_Sola sunk deep into the darkness before floating out of it._

_When she came to, she looked in to a pair of clear, deep emerald eyes._

* * *

Sola blinked, the sunlight streaming in from the window to her left shining down upon her face. She rubs her eyes, trying to shake herself out of the memory. The day she had dreamed about was a point where everything was turned upside down.

It was the day that she came closest to death, laying on the desert as blood pooled. Certainly if it was anyone else, they would have killed and eaten her. Yet that didn't happen.

Because it was him who stumbled upon her. When she came to, Ulquiorra was looking down at her with woeful green eyes, a completely and utterly white hollow. Her head upon his lap.

It's not easy, especially when she looked up, actually looked up, she found a pair of deep green eyes staring in to hers.

She swallowed, feeling the irony of the deja vu, and curses the deeper forced that are at work. A thousand memories flicker in her mind. She bat them away like so many butterflies. Sola put her hand on the pale man's chest, and push him off the bed, not gently either.

"Hello, number four." the sleepy redhead said lightly, as if he wasn't leaning over her in the bed like a predator. Ulquiorra simply stared. Sola returned the gaze, hating the fact that after all that time, the man is still hard to read as ever. Thoughtfully, he turned, blinking, hands nonchalantly in his pocket.

"There's a meeting, Aizen-sama sent me to get you." He tilts his head back, staring at her with one eye as she stretched like a cat.

"Thank you, Ulquiorra." Sola said easily, running a hand through her hair, finger combing it.

He nods, quiet. Something tugging at the back of his mind.

_A flash of scarlet on the desert sand, reflected in the desert moon. The moon above their heads, round and full._

_The single horn that rises from the head of blood red hair._

_Long, dark red lashes, the wind that blew sand on her eyelids and dusted them with gold._

He blinks, confused for only a second, yet resigned to keep walking anyway.

He wasn't moved, not at all. He _can't. There can't be any happiness when there were the weird feeling in his chest, frantic beating and the way his stomach does flops._

Not at all.

The Espada walked faster.

If no emotion can exist, if all he feels is void, why is this... vision, repeating in his head, _over and over,_ unable to stop?

Why is it _stuck? _The pale skinned boy couldn't help but glance at the woman behind him. Sola has her hand behind her back as she walked. The redhead is looking out one of the windows with drooping eyelids, as if thinking of something far away. The early sunlight painting her eyelids gold and lights her snake-like eyes a lighter red. Her lips were parted as she looked out into the desert landscape.

_There was a time when she looked at him that way._ He thought with another flip of his stomach. Ulquiorra frowned, it didn't seem possible that he caught some disease, but he might have.

_Irritating woman, _the fourth turns away quickly when Sola caught him looking. He hurried on.

Something is really, really off with him today. The espada scoffed, and sped up even more.

* * *

**Again, review please my loves 3 and to guest, (whose review I just saw) I am updating as fast as I can xD but god it's hard to write with writer block**

**See you all next time 333 *hugs all***


	4. No Idea

**Hey guys, was a rough day. Fought with my mom again, more like lecture... but anyway. If I write something depressing and make grammar mistakes in the space below... Am sorry...**

** eve-chan: yup, a harem. Those are always fun, espadas just provide a perfect one, so many nice looking boys~**

** Leyshla: idk how much I like it when a guy is an asshole, but if you mean a tsundere, as in he's harsh at first but becomes gentle... those can become adorable xD. I have a weakness for tsunderes. As for my lovely Ulquiorra... the butterflies in the stomach, the fast beating heart, what do ya think he's feeling when he's getting unconscious flashbacks of Sola? xD Even if he won't admit it. IT'S LOVE**

**Ulquiorra: *holds sword to neck* "There is no such thing!"  
Author: *sweat dropping* "Uh... no! Nothing, nothing at all!"**

** Guest (I really don't know who you are so no name sorry): I really was kinda rushing the time when I answered your comment, but I try to write good fights, I hope you liked the one in the last chapter!**

**Also in regards of Sola's appearance, when I talk about how her eyes are snake-like, it just means that the pupils are slitted, not that she looks like Nnoitra.**

**Sola:*pats author* "Better not write anything bad..."  
Author: =-= "Don't threaten me or I'll write that you died."  
Sola:"Ulquiorra she isn't playing fair."  
Ulquiorra:". . ." *refuses to be part of the argument***

* * *

There is only darkness at the head of the table, where Aizen sat. The espada bathed in dim light, some bored and some looking rather serious. The table and the chairs were made of a material that gave a metal like gleam. Sola put her arms on the desk and made herself comfortable. The meetings are usually long, and she's already bored. The redhead licked her lip, and stretched like a cat, completely unaware of the two green orbs that stays glued to her every movement.

Grimmjow snickers as he watched Ulquiorra. Stark woken up in a rare moment of interest and follows the cuatro's gaze across the table to the unaware redhead.

Sola was, at that moment, occupied with running a hand through her still tangled bedhead. Closing one eye, she runs her slender fingers through the blood red mane that falls down her back.

Like a cat, Stark thought lazily, keeping one eye closed. Lilynette peeks out from behind his seat, curious as to what might have raised her partner's attention.

The girl Lilynette saw was best described as the reincarnation of carnage. At least, it was the impression the redhead first gave. Yet as soon as Lilynette got past the brightly shocking colors of her hair and eyes, the thought that she was a vicious creature of destruction disappeared. The girl's face is delicate, beautiful in a sweet, radiant way. Her cheeks are still filled with a light blush from her night of sleep. Lilynette smiles, the beautiful girl has caught Stark's attention.

Granz blinks, usually too interested in experiments too care about anything else, gave a smirk as he watch Stark and Ulquiorra staring at the woman steadfastly. Curious at what could have caught Stark's attention, he gazed towards the redhead himself. Studying the girl.

After all, a scientist always have a healthy amount of curiosity.

Nel glances at the woman, glad that there is another girl in the Espada, wondering if the new Espada would be friends with her. Nnoitra, annoyed by the fact that Nel ignored him, followed her gaze and glanced at the redhead sitting in the corner. He doesn't see anything good about this girl, what's with everyone staring.

Thus when Sola glanced back at the table, she found sixth of the nine espada, excluding herself, staring at her. Sola looks surprisingly at each in turn. Nel waved, Nnoitra looks away proudly, again trying to gain Nel's attention for a match. Granz stares openly at her with what can be described as a mad-scientist gleam in his eyes. Grimmjow winks. Stark let his gaze linger for only a second, then returns to his nap.

Ulquiorra looks away, pretending to ignore her presence. She sighed, for the second that she caught the emerald eyed gaze, her heart fluttered and jumped, refusing to settle even this second. The coldness of the moment stabs in to her heart like a thorn, throbbing in pain.

The meeting begun and ended peacefully. By the end of it, Sola was barely able to blink away the oncoming sleepiness.

"Just before we go, I must mention." Aizen clapped his hands together in the unknown darkness. Sola blinks, instantly up and alert.

"I would like you all to meet our newest tenth." All heads turned towards her this time. Taking in her appearance. Sola nodded numbly at the other nine in the room, wishing more than anything to get away. The silence is thick enough to cut. The redhead turns her ruby eyes upon number four espada to find him looking down onto the desk. The thorn twists, cruelly it moves. She mutters something intangible and lowers her eyes downwards.

_If he had a choice, if he would look me in the eyes. It would make all this worth it. _

Sola gives a bitter smile as she turn away. To be next to him is her happiness, her pain, her addiction and the most excruciating grief. His green eyes were all that helps her hold on to sanity. The has fallen as the meeting ended. The ten blades scattered like sand in the wind. Sola walks out last, slowly but surely making her way towards the large door. With the smallest effort she pushes the doors open, then gone like a dream out into the desert wind.

* * *

-Sola-

I hold the piece of mask in my hand. It's cold as porcelain and sharp as bone. I stare at it, thoughts flashing across my mind.

If I told you I love you, would you say it back? I smile despite myself. I doubt it, you hate anything to do with emotions. I think I might go a little crazy. Those years without you were hard. I went through the world looking for a connection, yet I didn't find another. Your green eyes were all that I lie upon. I'm not sure I can hold on anymore, I have been so tired of traveling alone, sleeping alone. I have been through years and years, now leaves seem to fall, seasons seem to change within a blink of my eyes. I only wish I can find the days meaningful, not just go through each day like a dream.

I remember when we wondered, across every inch of this desert, even into other dimensions, the things we see still haunts me every single day. I remember the falling beauty of things at its ends, burning away last of its energies, brightest at its end. We have seen much together. The memories hold my hands through every single minute of every day. Yet I'm fading, I don't think I can take it anymore. Everyday it's getting harder to breath. _Because the things you no longer remember or want to remember are the only things keeping me here. _I'm not sure if I can remind you, I don't know if I should.

I wonder if you will catch me. I think I'm falling deeper in to abyss, and I hate being alone. You knew it. I remember the strength of your hand in mine, the feeling of leaning into you, I miss it so much I think I'll go insane.

I went to every corner of both worlds to find another you. I can't.

I came to this place because I saw you standing on top, with all the forlorn demeanor you always had. Cause when I saw those familiar emeralds, I knew it was you. And I have walked thousands of miles only to come back right to you.

Except you have no idea who I am.

And it tears me apart everyday to know it. Yet I can only let it.

You have my heart in your hand, if only you will realize it. If you say my name, I'll do anything.

_I would give you everything and anything, as long as you love me._

* * *

Ulquiorra watched as the girl step out, red hair trailing behind her like flame.

He doesn't know why he likes watching her so much, yet he does. There is something about the way she moves, the bend of her arms, the strength of her steps, the proud set of her jaws. The clear eyes, the way her hair falls down her shoulder, Sola catches his eyes and won't let them go. The pale man watch as she disappears out of his sight, yet he kept watching the direction towards where she left. Feeling a presence his way, the fourth Espada tensed.

"Watcha watching there cuatro?" Grimmjow's voice rung out from behind Ulquiorra.

Wordlessly the ashen espada brushes past the blue wolf, heading elsewhere.

A growl sounds in the blue haired man's throat and Grimmjow grabs Ulquiorra as he bumped into his shoulder.

"What do you think you are doing, seis." The words from his black lips almost sounded like a statement.

"Remove your hand." It was a simple command, spoken by the ever calm, baritone voice.

Grimmjow gritted his teeth and dropped his hand. Angry yet having nothing to say. The wolf stares hard at the opened front door, and the traces of energy he found there both surprised and amused him. The sixth espada give a splutter of laughter. Ulquiorra stopped, turning his profile at the lower espada and waited for the comment that was coming.

"You were watching Sola." Grimmjow states simply. "Someone's interested, aren't they." He taunts.

The careful control almost slipped, yet the fourth turns and walks away. The moonlight painting the espada even paler, like some ethereal vision.

"Bastard." Behind him, the wolf cursed, giving out an angry yell. Curse that Ulquiorra for always acting like he's better than anyone else.

"Aizen's damn lapdog." Grimmjow screams angrily, punching the wall.

One look allows him to see everything perfectly. Sola might care for Ulquiorra deeply, and maybe Ulquiorra feels some stir upon the sight of the beautiful redhead, he would never tell her. The fourth espada would keep her at arm length forever, never closer, yet never letting her go either. He looks into the desert night and sighed.

It isn't that Grimmjow would be the one to be to cut in other people's business, or help a wayward couple.

It is because when he sees the redhead staring into the fourth's pair of emerald eyes, there was no place for him.

And he wants her to look at him that way. Want to see Sola look up at his face with a smile as he close the distance between their lips.


	5. A Daydream Away

**Fourth try on doing this, I can't seem to finish it and every time it somehow resets itself. I'm really starting to hate google chrome. Life has been kinda, I really don't know how to describe it, crazy? But yeah... Sorry for not updating in so long.**

**Since I was only able to write this chapter while listening to a song, I decided to dedicate this chapter to the song, since the theme I added to this chapter with Nel/Nnoitra (cute couple those two are) is exactly that. **

**A Daydream Away, it has such sweet melody and lyrics... All Time Low guys, the band is great. Listen to it if you don't know it. And in case no one noticed (or did, which ever one), the last chapter, No Idea, is also one of their songs. I think I'm a little obsessed at the moment, but they would deserve the attention, and a lot more too~**

**I don't own anything except Sola. I wish I did.**

* * *

_The color of her eyes sparkle, set by the moon. The desert sand silvery in its wake. The scene is making my head spin, I'm not sure I know what I am doing. Scarlet hair flowing like silk, I think I want to memorize everything about her. I want to remember, please let me remember... _

_Warmth on my chest, the dizzying pressure of her hand. Her presence by my side, it feels so familiar and sweet._

_Are my eyes open or shut, am I dreaming or awake, I'm not sure._

_The curve of her lips, the slight turn of her head, the slight tilit of her eyes._

Green eyes shocked wide open, hand shot out to touch the hair next to him. A feeling of missing something so deep and profound he almost can't breath, this feeling of emptiness seems both beside him and inside him. A pounding in his head makes him close his eyes again. Suddenly there seem to be words.

_"I will always find you, wherever you might hide, wherever you might go." Steady gaze, the defiant lock of her jaw, he wants to touch her. _

Such things don't make sense, Ulquiorra opens his eyes and look sideways out the window. Such things are false, empty, foolish. It will only slow him down, it's useless and meaningless just like everything else. Those visions keep on coming, they are simply a welcoming distraction. Those three month has been the most complicated in his life. Days filled with idol thoughts he never had before. Ulquiorra ran a hand through his black mess of hair. Cuatro turns to his left, emeralds automatically traveling up to his window. She would be out there right now, it's a full moon night. Not sure what this feeling is, but maybe he is wandering about her a little, just a little. But it's trivial, right?

It is, it has to be.

The espada close his eyes again and sigh. It's strange but his heart seem to be beating some strange beat, his head seems up in the clouds. Something about this moment makes the man's spirit lift in some strange restless way. Suddenly he feels his lip full upwards, he want to jump up and run around. Blink a couple of times and he sits up, the moon's glow shining down on him like a weird cape. His hand on his face, rubbing furiously. Maybe he's going insane. Ulquiorra looks out the window, movement of his hand slowing down, an unfamiliar feeling enters his heart, not empty, not ugly or dark, simply calm, a feeling of complete and utter easy. A quiet joy that nearly makes him smile.

The moon is bright tonight...

* * *

The moon is bright in her eyes, feverish on her lips. Sola closed the doors, fighting the whispering wind, their words of promises stirring wanderlust. The dust whirl around her bare feet, like pieces of gold around her, shimmering in her path. Her hair lay wild across her back, looking like a wild woman. It's been three month since she first came under Aizen's wings, already it seems like forever and a day.

Though, as long as he's here, she leans on the window sill, letting the moonlight fall across her face like a veil. Letting her eyes close, Sola smile slightly. This feeling is so familiar, leaving her on the clouds. Daydreams in her mind, hazy yet sweet as chocolate. Quick, quiet steps can be heard, and Nel appeared next to Sola. The girl pokes her red haired friend's cheek. Red eyes went slightly round before going back to normal, Sola bumps Nel gently. As if still half in a dream, ten blinks slowly, enjoying the moonlight. Nel smiles at her friend's look. In three month, the two has grown close, being the only two females in the espada. They both found relief in the other's company, willing to confide in one another, they became fast friends.

"Thinking about someone?" the green haired girl remarked teasingly. Setting her elbows upon the window sill next to Sola, she looks up at the moon, giving a happy sigh. "Wish I had someone to actually think about."

Sola smiles, eyes lowering towards the ground, "He doesn't remember me. My everything is nothing to him."

"I rather feel pain than nothing at all." Third spoke the painful words in a composed way. Sola glance at her side long and lean her head on the green haired woman's shoulder playfully.

"You always have Nnoitra"

Nel snorted. "Yes, I have a stalker who picks fights with me constantly. I think about him every night and fall deeper in love each time."

Sola shrugs, smile tugging at her lips. The red haired espada let her eyebrows wiggle. "You know you like that..." she stops to search for words, "tall... figure."

They both laugh. A tear drop from the clear hazel eyes, falling like rain. Scarlet haired girl puts her arms around the other, eyes lowered, an unreadable twist of her lips. Their heads touch, pieces of their mask clang together in a dull, clicking sound. They hold each other's hands, close their eyes with a sigh, and feel a little comfort in each other's company. They both had something to think about, someone to miss. The silence was the best connection, there's no need to speak, it's understood between the space of two bodies. In the silence, just a bit of bittersweet feelings.

* * *

The tall man hides deeper into the shadows. No matter how insensitive, annoying, vulgar he is, he couldn't interrupt that moment. Especially when those hazel eyes became clouded over, something about it made him pause.

He loves bothering her, loves seeing the grace of her in battle, even if she crushes him in the process. He likes the way she pouts, the way she always have composure when in public. He loves the way she walks, green hair swaying in the process. The way the lovely red stripe runs across her face. He loves to get closer to her, even if it's simply for seconds in battle.

He hates how battles are the only way he can get close to the third espada. Only way he would let himself get close, only way he would let himself watch her. It was unforgivable to fall for a woman, it was his mistake. His pride ripped out for himself to see, how much of what he thinks is wrong. Yet he can't admit this weakness, Nnoitra can only obsess with the fights they have. Between the two of them, a special tie, his only one to her.

What would they do to become an item anyway? He wouldn't know how to treat her. They would end up broken, and he somehow can't seem to get used to the idea of losing, if he messed up.

_So he will keep her, a daydream away, he can simply reach out or close his eyes, and there she would be._

Number five turns and walks quickly out of sight. There's no need for Nel to know that he was there. It's simply better that way, if she didn't find out.

Even if she will always have him.


	6. The Distance In Between

**Haven't got any reviews for last chapter yet. Please please please review! I really want some opinions o vo please feel free to favorite/follow as well. Always makes me happy. Also, in last chapter, I put Nnoitra in as 5th, which he is currently. But my friend corrected me (thanks btw) and told me that when Nel is still in espada, Nnoitra was 8th. Sorry v.v Ooops. If I made any mistakes, please notify me. Also I realized that Granz wasn't an espada back at this time. Forgive me Q.Q!**

**Sola:*hovers over shoulder*"You make too many mistakes."  
Author:"You write this than =~= god. It's not easy!"  
Sola:*writes a novel*  
Author:". . ." *walks in corner* "I lost my will to live T~T"  
Stark:". . ." *falls asleep*  
Lilinette:"Hey Stark! Stark! Author is counting on you to say something!" *tickles* "Hurry up get uppppp!"  
Stark:". . ."  
Everyone:"Well, on behalf of Stark, since he refuse to do as the author asks, author does not own bleach. Happy reading."  
*cero out of no where*  
Everyone:"We'll be quiet..."**

* * *

"..." Stark stared down at the girl curled up like a cat across his favorite spot. Moonlight shone down around her, making her cloth glitter and her hair lighter. Her skin seem to glow in an ethereal haze. He scratches his head, it's the third time he's seen her occupying the spot like a cat napping in the sun. Slightly amused, he sits down next to the curled up espada. The said espada looks up, opening one eye lazily and tilts her head.

"Yo." She says in a lazy voice as she got up. Stark watches as she stretch, long limbs moving in predatory grace. Her body carried into a sitting position and she blinks at him, squinting.

Stark nods, laying down and putting his arms behind his head.

"Ah yes," the red haired woman waves her hand through the air. "Silent as usual. Guess I'll go, I'm not wanted." A flash and she's on her feet, the moon's rays are streaming down hazily. The terraces let in only small rays of light. The gold in the redhead's iris caught the light and shines, like stars in the dawn sky before dying out. Stark is surprised to hear his own voice ring out in the semi-darkness.

"There was never much need to speak when one is alone." Blue gray eyes are caught in a rare moment of seriousness. She stood in the ray of light, calm and listening. Wind nestling in her hair and making the red strands float into the air.

A bitter laugh, her face is encased in a smile, yet her eyes were sad. The girl's profile is silhouetted against the light and dark, making her eyes the only thing glittering. The red orbs were filled with a million tragic memories, making her seem infinitely older. "Being alone... it's something I can understand."

"We have something in common, then." He says, eyes caught on the woman before him. The rays of light seems painfully bright today. The female arrancar's silhouette is imprinted in his vision as she half turned to him.

"Guess so." Her voice feigns casualness, yet the thick, low sound of it betrays her. Stuck in some memories then, Stark thought with a flick of his head.

How did she survive in this place. He wondered. Hollow's world isn't easy, only the strong survive, the cruel. Yet the woman before him seems so emotional, so fragile. Beauty isn't usually preserved here, brutality is. This is not a world suited for her, not by a long shot. The girl acts like a human, how does she obtain so much power?

Curious.

In the dark his night vision detects a smile, a proud, yet sad one. Her head is held up high. The woman's eyes held both pride, amusement and pain. Something is broken in her, shattered like glass. Yet she's not down, not by a long shot.

"What's your name?" this is, of course, an eerily long conversation, for Stark, anyway.

A soft sigh, a sad laugh. Her hand is on her face, she lifts her hand to the light, a quirky smirk on her lips. "Sola, Sola Dracoleon."

"hmm." He makes a soft sound, and tilts his head once to show he's listening.

Distant voices sounded, Nel and Nnoitra must be fighting again. Stark made a tsk sound, wishing that they would all shut up. While Sola was a welcoming distraction, the love spat between the third and eighth espada wasn't.

"Well met Stark," she had found out his name from Lilinette when his partner was babbling on to the tenth nonstop. "I'll be seeing you." Sola walks away, silent. In a minute, it almost seem like she was never there in the first place.

Stark closes his eyes. The woman's face is almost painful to look at, radiant even in the dark. Thankful for his perfect night vision, he let the image of Sola show behind his eyelids. Her smile flickers, his heart feels a single pang.

It's rather a enjoyable sight. The male espada thought lazily.

"Stark! Stark!" Lilinette pounced on him, bouncing up and down on his chest. Stark pats her in an absent minded way, sleepy and bored.

"Sola was here! Do you like her Stark? Do you? Do you?" The girl said in a excited voice, bouncing up and down on her partner yet again.

His partner, however, has his attention turned to something else.

"Ulquiorra." A simple word contained a greeting, a warning, a threat and an invitation. Fourth stepped out from the tree, looking stoic yet anxious.

"Taken to stalking have we." Stark was way over his word limit of the day, but at this point it didn't matter. The teasing words fell to the apathetic man's ear and Stark saw the clenching movement of Ulquiorra's hand on Murcielago. A smirk fell on Stark's lips. Lilinette stared at the man curiously from behind her partner where she had hidden.

"An angry, jealous bat." Lilinette said before diving behind Stark. Ulquiorra's aura flew straight up for a second before coming back under control. Stark let out a rare laugh.

"You better be fast about it fourth." First's blue gray eyes slanted towards the spot where Sola last been. "Or maybe I will have her, or maybe that loud, foul mouthed panther will get to her first. Who knows."

"Ridiculous." Ulquiorra said in a dead even voice, yet the hidden edge can be heard.

"Is it?" Stark says in a noncommittal tone. "You would need to change that opinion soon, or you will lose her."

Not a single response...

"Hmmm." Stark said easily and closes his eyes. Fourth turns and stalks off. Lilinette blinks, lips half parted.

"Hey Stark, does that bat like Sola-chan?"

Stark's eyes are already closed, yet his mouth curved into a smile.

It would seem like life would be interesting with Sola around.

* * *

His thoughts are racing along with his heart. His footsteps echoed in his own ears, too loud, he thought distastefully. Angry at himself, he walked faster.

"An angry, jealous bat." Ulquiorra can still hear the tease in the girl's voice. He has no emotions. The mere notion that he has any such mortal feelings within him is ridiculous. It's insulting. The man struggled for control, furious. He shouldn't be feeling this way. They were below him, he shouldn't even be effected at all. He shouldn't be, yet his vision seem to be slowly going red. Anger course through his veins like molten lava. He put his hand on the wall, the window is before him, dyeing everything a light, pale shade of yellow.

A single strand of red, bold like lightning across his vision. Suddenly a pair of ruby red eyes were in front of his green eyes. The gold and orange specks in her eyes seem to jump in his vision.

"Ulquiorra?" Her voice was quiet and small, as if unsure of what to say.

"Or maybe I will have her..." The calm of Stark's voice pierce him like a spear. The darkness came over him like the deep dark abyss. Everything is suddenly blank. All that register is the sound of her gasp, the blood red gems of her eyes, and rapid breathing, but he doesn't know whose it is. It could be hers, it could be his. Ulquiorra can't think. There's only the two of them, her thin wrist in his hand and the way her eyes focuses on him.

_"Hey Ulquiorra..." Her eyes were not focused on him, yet he feel her presence like a painful slow burn. Her eyes sparkle in the sun, extra bright. Her smile is sad, her eyes bloody crystal. Her hand is warm in his, a comfortable constant. _

_"You won't leave me, right?" The sun caught in her eyes again, the rays of light falling with the rain from her eyes, dropping down into the white sand. He hate seeing her cry, it makes him sad as well. Every time the droplets fall from her eyes, it feels like he was falling down as well. Her head came to rest on his shoulder, a welcoming weight, comforting and relaxing. They sink to the ground together, her body next to his. Her red hair catching the rays of the dying sun as he watched. Ulquiorra blinks, he wish he can show her what he knows. If she simply didn't feel she would be happier. She's not there yet. The white hollow wipes a tear off her face, the liquid sparkles like a gem on his finger. Ulquiorra blinks, he will wait for her, wait until she understands. _

_"Promise..." The words struggled out from behind the mask, low and quiet. A pause hung thick in the air, then a laugh. The empty hollow lowers his head to see her smile. A true, happy smile this time. A laugh rung from her lips, sweet as bells. The redhead sniffed. She wiped at her eyes with her free hand and leaned her weight atop his chest. Gazing at Sola always make something in his chest skip a beat. She said it was his heart. He feels it then, right there with the vaste lord's head resting on his chest._

_He'll wait for her, the white hollow thought, he might not know what this attachment to the woman mean, but he'll wait for her to understand. All the things will be clear, and they will be truly happy. They will find true happiness in the void, soon, soon. Her twin rubies close, flames extinguished behind eyelids, warm and reassuring. Quiet breathing, joint fingers and the upward start of her lips, flashes of things that he can't quite understand yet always want to keep._

_Yet when he can feel this warmth of hers in his hand. When Sola smiles, it makes him feel a strange sense of peace._

_Maybe they can stay this way._

_Forever..._

A start, and Ulquiorra find himself staring into the same red eyes. Sola's eyes are red like blood, like the dying sun, like the flames and ember of fire captured behind a polished crystal. They were close, so very close. The two espadas were close enough to feel the other's breathing. The girl's breath flows onto his face, tickling his nose. Their lips were only a hair's breadth away, close enough to kiss. The fourth wants to kiss them, he want to bite and lick, wand to devour her like a feast. Her cherry red lips were half opened in surprise. Ulquiorra wants to taste her. Sola's lips would taste like the fruit they remind him of, sweet. His hand tightened on her wrist. Yet her gaze never filtered, determined ruby eyes set on his emerald. The urge to touch, to kiss, to have her is nearly overwhelming, cutting like lightning in his mind. She was his, entirely, and he was hers. There was no way the redhead would refuse him, as long as he takes it, as long as he closes the distance between them. So clear, Ulquiorra can see every detail, like the stray strand of hair falling across Sola's collar bone. Yet everything is so hazy, Sola makes him crazy, when she's around, nothing is ever simple or clear. This confusion fluttering like butterflies in his stomach. The pale espada pauses.

No, such actions and emotions are trivial. They were beneath him.

He has his own goals. There was no way Ulquiorra would let such a girl hinder him. Yet her warmth stayed in his palm like a ghost long after he let go. Taunting and beckoning him forward, daring him to touch her. In a daze he pulled away, pushing off the wall as if it was acid.

The dragon's voice is low and raw, barely audible as the pale man struggled with himself.

"You promised." Her voice nearly broke before it ended. Thunder in his vision, electricity in his mind, Ulquiorra stumbles, shaken and disoriented. Step back one, and another, and another. He stared at her, something flashing in his eyes.

_You promised. Promised, promised, promised, promised._

Endless chanting threaten to burst his head open. The fourth espada shook himself once violently, turned and sped down the hallway as if chased. His footsteps echoed, reverberating off the walls as they mock him.

_Promised, promised, promised promised. You promised. Promised, promise, promised, you promised._

He can feel the painful sadness in her spirit force, tearing her apart like a ravaged beast. Ulquiorra feels every bit of it, yet he can't help but run. This confusion can't seem to clear and suddenly he felt the need to get out of her sight, like a guilty animal. He tore through the castle.

If happiness would come as long as he finds the twisted mass of spikes and thorn that resembled void, than why is he so unsure? At this moment, all he wants is to turn, find her and grab her, to feel her presence burned into his every sense like a brand. To taste her, to carve every part of his touch into her memory. The pale espada wants nothing better than to have her.

He can't. He can't let himself.

* * *

So he left her standing in the hall, with all her pain and desire and yearnings. His promise unfulfilled. Even when they were only a minute's distance away, he seems further than ever.

She'll be there for him though, whatever he might need. The redhead tilts her head and stared at the sun.

Cause on that moonlit night, he was the one to pull her from the blinding and lethal pain that trapped her.

Anything and everything, Sola thought, smiling, _Because he saved me, because he stayed,_ _I'll give him, anything and everything._

_Because, he did the same for me._


	7. Save You

**So since I started my new Grimmjow fanfic, I haven't written anything for this one yet, I'm sorry! But I did draw Sola out~ I finished a pencil concept sketch of her. I'm not the best artist but I hope it looks OK. (It seems like don't allow web addresses, oops!) So please enter /art/Sola-concept-sketch-376535474 after adding in the deviantart's site's main address. Please check it out and tell me what you think. This is where it's posted on me deviant art o.o, I don't use it very much. Anyway, here's the next chapter, it might be a bit short, but : P~**

**Also, I was consulting back to my last chapter for the beginning of this one and noticed an error in the dialogue between Stark and Ulquiorra, I apologize T-T But I fixed it, it's not really anything major, but yeah...**

**Sola:"Go get a proofreader!"  
Author:"Find me one!"  
Sola: *drags over Ulquiorra, Stark and Grimmjow* "Will those do?"  
Author:"... Too stoic, too lazy, and too stupid."  
Grimmjow:"Aye!" *draws Pantera*  
Author:*sweat drop* "I take it back! Perfect... Last one is perfect for a proofreader..." *cough***

* * *

Too loud, too loud, the pale man steps through the hall, humiliating words echoing along with the many strange visions of the woman. Everything whirled in his mind like a blinding twister.

_Stark laughing as he laid on the ground with the irritating little girl behind him, "Better be fast about it..."_

_Sola's sad eyes as he pulled away, "You promised..."_

_"You'll lose her."_

_"An angry, jealous bat."_

_Sola standing on the sand, smiling._

_Sola staring into the moon, crying silently._

_Laughing, flying, running, the two of them together._

_And lastly, the ghostly warmth of her wrist in his hands and their moment, secret, shared, sacred. The breath that they shared, hushed and quick. The sweet curve of her lips, the ghostly smile and the question in her deep eyes. The more Ulquiorra thinks about it, the more the twin orbs remind him of pomegranate seeds. The fleeing moment that gone too fast and he desperately wished, against all his beliefs and conducts, that the moment was longer, much, much longer. The near kiss and his overwhelming desires, so strong that it's painful. _

The desire clung to him, still strong and fresh and still painful like a burn. Of course, that only agitated Ulquiorra further. His control is slipping so much.

His mind was in chaos, a battle zone of confusion, so much so that he couldn't detect the three reiryoku that were dead ahead. The hall opened to two different intersections, and the espada stumbled slightly, stopping.

Cling!

Ulquiorra's head whipped around towards the source of the sound. The redhead has one arm around Nel, blocking the woman behind her while the other blocked Nnoitra's strike. A metalic sound rung out as Sola's hierro repeled the hit. The woman's delicate hand placed itself on the middle of the blade, trapping the crescent moon blade, stopping it.

"Stop it, both of you." Her voice rung out, thick with amusement, "lovebirds should play nice."

Both parties stopped to glare at their mediator.

"We are not damn lovebirds." Nnoitra snarled

"Don't associate me with him!" Nel's eyes widened, "Sola!"

"And they have the same reaction." The redhead between the two rolled her eyes, blatantly unaffected by the killing intent coming from Nnoitra. Nel, on the other hand, looked in between a laugh and a sigh.

"Sola... What am I do to with you..." Nel looked at her friend with an exasperated stare.

"Now now Nel, if you two admit you love each other, I wouldn't have to be constantly be the light bulb around here." Sola continued despite the grim line of Nnoitra's lips.

"Stupid bitch! Get out of my way, I got business with the third, go look like a blood splattered doll elsewhere. No one wants you!"

"Nnoitra!" Nel yells at the vulgar man.

"I don't mind." Sola said.

"Shut up, you are not a part of this, leave us." Nnoitra growled back angrily. "This is between me and the third, don't get in my way." The eighth pushes his blade towards her body roughly, eliciting a enraged yell from Nel. Ulquiorra watches as the blade bit into Sola's hand and drew a single cut. The red jewels fell and hit the ground, sizzling like lava. It would almost seem like he was falling with the blood into another place.

_Blood..._

_She laid on the ground, pale and drained as he looked upon her. An unknown stranger dying before him. Her two adversaries dead, and soon, she might join them in oblivion. Her hand curled and uncurled, her weapon discarded. Her head turned, and she made a pained expression, without knowing what he is doing, the white hollow knelt across the ground and put her head on his lap. She slept, soundlessly, seemingly peaceful in her sleep._

_He's not sure how much time passed by now, all that he knows is that the woman in his lap is still asleep._

_When she woke, he stared into a stunning pair of red eyes. The orbs widened, muscles tightened, then stopped as she winced in pain. Giving up, the wounded hollow__ stared up at him._

_"Just get it over with." Her heaving voice sounded out. Her lungs added their protest at abuse as she spoke. Blood is everywhere, matted in her hair, dripping down her lips and pooling around her body. The redhead stared up into his emerald eyes with defiance, ready to fade away. _

_"..." The white hollow had no desire to eat her, though. It was mere curiosity that drove him closer and closer towards the wounded Vaste Lorde and nothing else. _

_A wonderful laugh came from her lips, sweet and melodious, then a hacking cough that rocked her body and made her wince._

_"Why, you are funny..." Her voice is weak, drifting off in the wind. The woman's eyes closed again. "My life is in your hands, then."_

_There's something about her, always was always will be. And this white hollow was drown as if a moth to a flame._

_The hollow came, sensing the auras. It had been stumbling along for days, evading his hunters and pursuers and desperate for nourishment. Soon through the wind flowed the smell of blood. When it stretched his senses out, he can sense a fading aura, weakly shimmering. Forgetting all else, the creature was already lost in its own lust and hunger._

_The white hollow was helping the woman to her feet. The woman staggered and smiled at him. A joint in his heart and he looked away, not seeing the oncoming hunter. The predator jumped, tackling the woman to the ground, hungry for the kill and the opportunity to feast on a Vaste Lorde. The strain of her muscles, the surprise and shock hit the air as well as the smell of blood as her wounds reopened._

_And when he saw the red spreading across the cold night sand, something in him snapped._

Everything happened at once then. Sola's reiryoku jumped, her hierro hardened in the blink of an eye. The redhead's hand grasped around the edge of the crescent blade, ready to fight. Then a flash of something white and black was suddenly between the two. The sound of metal barely registered in anyone's mind as the fourth espada jumped and closed his fist around Nnoitra's wrist. A bone breaking sound filled the air along with Nnoitra's scream.

Everything is a blinding white in his rage.

"Stop! Ulquiorra!" Sola's voice finally registered. Her hands helped pull him up from his position above the cursing eighth. Everything else seem to disappear except the pounding in his chest and Sola's wide eyes. Her eyes widen with confusion and shock, the gold and orange in her eyes seem to stand out even more in her pale face, shining as if she had captured moonlight.

"You..." Words seems unable to get past her tongue, and she shut her lips again. Both of them stared at each other. In the distance Ulquiorra can make out sounds as Nnoitra cursed and Nel held him back, saying something to the tall, impulsive man. He cast a single glance at the two struggling espada and decided they were beneath his concern. Without a single word, the fourth espada grabbed Sola's wrist tightly and hauled her away from the offending spot.

Maybe he should be caring about the fact that he lost control and hit his comrade, but Ulquiorra simply couldn't make himself care, especially not at that moment. All he cared about was in that moment, the woman next to him had shed blood.

And his reaction scared himself.


	8. My Querida

**So, I don't remember how long it's been since last chapter was released. Which was a pretty bad sign... Though on the other hand, I can't remember numbers or dates, so, I'm not sure. Taming Panthers (My fanfic for grimmjow) came out with a new chapter though~ Yay~~ It took me god knows how long to come up with the plot details for it. Headache inducing time... Hope you enjoyed last chapter of Lone Stars though. There wasn't a single review though... Which made me really sad... I really look forward every chapter to reviews, since they help me with my work and make me generally very happy! The reviews always make my day to know that someone cares about my work. Although I might update irregularly, I really love to write. And when I find out that you guys like it, it makes me really happy. So please, leave me a review, even if it's just to say hi, and by the way, rants, hate messages is accepted too, yes, I am that desperate for reviews. I mean, that might not be as nice as suggestions to plot, what you guys want in the story or grammar corrections, plot problems, but it would still be something. I really appreciated reviews from Leyshla Gisel, (though she doesn't follow this story anymore), eve-chan 97, (you have to tell me if I am developing my harem right) and a big belated thank you to sasusakufan2357 who left me my last review. In regards to your review, the memories are not human, but memories from before Ulquiorra became an arrancar. In his background story, he finds a white tree and plunges in, breaking off his mask, and that's how he becomes an arrancar. His memories with Sola is back when he was a hollow. And yes, I know, my verb tenses are an absolute mess...**

**And to those still reading this story, thanks for putting up with my mistakes and possible bs, thank you. *bows* I hope you like the stories, and if you have any suggestions for me, please leave me a review or message me. **

* * *

A man and a woman stumbles through the halls of a vast structure in the middle of an endless desert. To any artist, it would have been a beautiful if not slightly bizarre picture. The man is strikingly handsome, slender and pale with emerald eyes. The same emerald color rolls down his cheeks and end at points at his jaw, his lips are black and full. The white jacket flow like a cape around him, accentuating every feature. The man's has one slender hand locked around the woman's wrist as he drag her down the hall. The girl lags behind, long red hair flowing, stumbling on autopilot. Her shocking eyes taking in the light and shinning like gemstones. The two manage to stumble down a quiet, unused dead end.

"Ulquiorra..."

Her words went right over his head as the pounding in his ears soared like a roar. Blood coursed through Ulquiorra's body, boiling in emotions he can't seem to define. So many questions shuttered through his mind like picture frames, one after another, brought up for only seconds before being forgotten. This chaos is in his mind, in his movement, in each and every step. Every thought and motion in his head are so strange yet so liberating, wordless yet perfectly understood.

"Hey..." in the silence her voice cuts like a knife, the man stops, turns to face the girl. The features of her face are somehow endlessly familiar. Somehow when he sees her face he becomes calm, as if he was in the right place. This sense of belonging in the muddled confusion lights up like a beacon in a storm. Sola is leaning against a window, moonlight carving shadows onto her face.

"Do you remember?"

Pulse.

The hand that is wrapped around her wrist tightens, and then loosens. For a moment his head moved closer to hers.

_Her hell fire blazing like the sun above them. Bright feral eyes wide open under scattered red hair. Long fangs, strong claws dyed with blood. The remains of her mask worn black and red, tangling like scales along her arms and across the center of her back. Her hair braided, scaling down the slant of her back, barely touching the sharp ridges. The woman's image seared into his brain, the carnage and blood around them arranged in a wide arc, sparkling under the rays of light. _

_"Hey Ulquiorra..." The vaste lorde shined ever brighter under the blazes of fire._

"Ulquiorra!" same eyes, same features, basked in soft moonlight instead of a blazing fire. It wasn't the sun that they were under, but the remnants of the woman's power. Her voice is softer than usual. The woman's eyes are searching instead of her usual easy composure. Somehow, the bat thinks, they both knew everything about the other. At a slight glance, he can tell how she's feeling.

He knows her, like a book. Ulquiorra stared at the girl, he knew her nervous habit of biting her lip when she's unsure, how she likes to sleep (curled up on her side), how she smiles when she tries to push away sadness.

Could they have known each other?

Impossible.

Yet the recurring dreams won't fade, growing every second of every day. Along with it comes longings that echo in the emptiness in the depth of his heart. How long can he shut it out? This poison, this infection, where does it come and where will it go? Just what has this woman done to him? How did this redhead unsettle him so much that simply a glance will stir up things he never believed to be real?

How?

How do they know each other? How could he remember? Or did he imagine her in the depths of his mind? Where?

If he had known something so beautiful and amazing, why did he throw it away?

"What are you?" A question that wasn't a question came breathlessly rolling from his lips. Sola's head tilts sideways, her composure seem back in place as she chose her next words.

A mocking smile, bittersweet and forlorn, graces the female espada's red lips. The sadness in her face is so deep and profound it made him want to hold her close. Her left hand, not held captive by the fourth before her, traces its way up his neck until it reaches his face. The tenth's index finger come to rest on the man's black lips.

"To you, my _querida_," her voice is lower than usual with a raw edge, "just a forgotten memory."

"..." Sola's words sunk into his mind, not fully registered. Thrown into the maddening confusion of his mind, the words seem to repeat itself, over and over. Somehow making his world clearer yet more muddled at the same time. Deny it and it will go away, he's not ready to face the truth, so hide. The quick beat of something in his chest and chaotic rhythm makes him want to run. She has so much power over him that it scares him. He's not ready for her, not yet. He's not yet ready to remember, to throw away his beliefs and thoughts. She has the power to make him do anything she wants, and he's not ready to let her have that power. It scares him even more that deep inside he doesn't mind. The fourth looks up again at the woman. He can't bring himself to hate her for forcing him to throw away the belief that void is all he needs.

He loves her.

He can't...

She watched him let go of her hand, and step back.

My querida... _You promised me an eternity, so I give you mine as well._ He remembers perfectly, those words that she has spoken.

It hurts to watch him go, but she would anyway. Before he can leave, the redhead stands to her tiptoes and plants a sweet kiss on his cheek, right on the emerald spike that spills from his eyes. Under her touch, the fourth found it near impossible to pull away. Yet he felt like he had to get away. So he did, when her lips were still warm like an aftertaste, he walked away hastily.

Sola sighs, the sound soft and barely audible in the eternal night.

"And to me." She whispered into the darkness where he was, "You are everything."


	9. A Game of Heart

**Thank you for your review, ArcsneFist. That cheered me up a great bit~ ^-^~ I'm so happy! Although I'm not sure how well I can do with making the chapters longer, I can try my best to make more updates, would that be OK? o.o**

**This writer block... It will be the death of me one day I swear. Sorry for the rather unreliable updates, I have an idea for the ending but I'm trying hard to develop all the characters the way I want them to go.**

**So, uh, I wasn't able to finish the chapter when I wanted, and some family emergencies came up and manage to put me out of reach of a laptop for around two weeks... I'm sorry... **

**Though during my absence I seem to have gained a couple of favorites. So yay! I love you guys so much I wish I can give you all chocolates. **

* * *

Sola staggered into her room, barely having time to close her door before collapsing to the ground. The espada put her hand to her lips as she heaved, and her pale fingers came away scarlet. The redhead licked the coppery liquid off her lips and leans on the wall behind her. Sola close her eyes and sigh, trying to ward off another heave as her body tried to cope.

_A low laugh rumbled from his throat. The brown haired man stared at her with a falsely kind smile. Sola stares back coldly._

_"All I am asking is a bit of help with this project of mine." the shinigami had cold eyes as he looked at her. "You won't refuse," he paused and he smirks. "Would you?" The silence hung like a curtain. The espada seem to think about something, and then lift her eyes to his._

_"And if I do?" Her defiance, the scheming man smiled inwardly. How naive and amusing this vaste lorde is. However, he has many moves up his sleeve. Her thought that he did not know about her intentions or feelings is ridiculous. Though they might not be able to force her to take part, for the woman is more stubborn then a dragon, and even Tousen and Gin together might have a hard time taking her. No, the man thought, even with the three former captains present, there was no amount of pain that could force her to her knees. The tenth/zero was titanium wrapped in velvet, no exotic torture would be enough to make her bend to his will._

_He knows, however, one way to make her bow her head to him, the one that made her pledge her loyalty in the first place. Aizen strides slowly back to his chair and takes his time lowering himself into the throne. He crosses his legs and stare at her with an amused expression with one hand resting on his cheek. To see her submit to him would be a pleasure. _

_"Cause if you do not." The man on the throne paused for effect, "I will just have to ask the bat to do it." Her eyes widened and returned to normal almost too quickly for him to see._

_Got her. Aizen thought with a glowing pleasure._

_"He's loyal, you know." Aizen shifts, relaxed in his seat. "He will agree without a second thought, even when he knows it will kill him." He utters those deadly words and watches as she becomes ensnared into his trap. Yes, she would comply to him now. "No matter, he would be given to a great cause, and I could replace him, even if an espada of his caliber might be hard to find."_

_"So make your choice, zero." His eyes sparked with cruel pleasure. "What do you say to helping? There's no rush, and you can refuse if you like." Her fists clenches._

_"It's only recreational. This project of mine."_

_The redheaded vaste lorde looks up, mute for a moment. Her eyes burned with hatred for him to see before she bows her head._

_"As you wish, my lord..."_

_"Let us begin." Aizen's smile is cruel as he nods at Gin. The white haired man bore his usual smile as he went forward and pressed a crystalline, glowing cube into her hand._

_"Please, let out a bit of your reiatsu." Her red aura flared like a fire, greedily, it stretches and tries to tangle around Gin, who backed almost hastily away. The red flared brighter and brighter until, suddenly, the cube seems to dye itself black as its glow collapsed onto itself. The red of her aura begins to rapidly shrink, just like the light of the cube. Like smoke, the aura curls around her figure, desperately clinging before being sucked into the cube. Sola gasps, the spiritual power she released was gone, sucked into the cube. The espada's slender fingers tried to uncurl around it, but couldn't. The cube is shaking, or her hands are, she can't tell at this point._

_"Don't let go of it yet, Sola." Aizen said her name like a charm. His eyes expectant, locked on the woman before him. The experiment was going well._

_However, Sola was less happy with the ongoing situation. Horror, never in her existence had she felt like this. Sola could only watch as the cube drawn more of her delectable red reiatsu out from within her body into the cube. In a single minute it manage to drain her considerably, 40 percent. She thought with a start, it had taken 40 percent of her stored power in only a moment. _

_It kept going for another minute..._

_80 percent... A rising panic begun, but there was no way she would let him know that. So she held on to it firmly._

_Slowly, more seconds ticked by. Black spots are dancing in her vision. 95 Percent, sweat beads her brow, she was going over her limit at this point. She blinks and held back a gasp, vision darkening and she sways dizzily on her feet. Sola could feel her presence ! Suddenly, the shaking ends and the cube glows with a fierce blood red as it dropped out of her hands with a clear, high pitched sound.__ The woman shakes, holding back a cough before she bowed to the man before her. _

_"The experiment is finished." The man looked at her with an amused expression. "Go." The redhead turns and walked away with blurry vision. _

Sola leans back and lets her eyes close, allowing her brain to process the latest events. Her door opens and footsteps echoed through the hallway and into her room. Listening, the redhead pulled herself weakly to her feet and came face to face with Grimmjow. He gave her a long look.

"As the mortals would say, a penny for your thoughts?" The voice jested with a smirk.

"That would be a penny wasted." Her eyes are shielded, shaded from the world, only a shadow of red sneaked across the surface. The room is dark, only a silver of her silhouette register in his vision, a ghostly version of the woman. Even the bright red of her hair seem to dull, and her eyes are tamed. She looks dead tired.

"Why?" His body moved with predatory grace as he glides across the space between them. "Is it so wrong to want to know?"

Blue like ice, burns like fire, she shivers. "I'm a waste of time, Grim."

His eyes are steadily glowing as he stared at her. "No to me."

There's no need to speak, the implied words are hanging in the air. They both knew what it meant. Her silence is his reply. A firm yet gentle rejection. Friends is as far as she will ever let him go.

Whether or not he was willing to accept that decision was his choice.

And right now, high off a hunt and drunk in her scent, his brain is spinning too fast to work. His hurt ego and pride along with his lust compelled him, and so he obeyed.

Hence why he wrapped one arm possessively around the redhead's waist and tilts her chin up with the other. "I don't want to." He said lazily, drawling out the sounds in his deep voice. With her response on the tip of her tongue, he bent his head and silenced her. In seconds, his tongue flicked over her soft lips, savoring the taste and than sliding his tongue in her mouth. The dizzying sweetness of having her flush against his body is a pleasure. He wants to kiss her and taste her forever. Sola's hands pushed at the panther's shoulders and chest. Grimmjow didn't budge.

Lost in her taste, lost in her scent, lost in the softness of her skin and silk of her hair. There was no way he could stop, even the weight of her hand on his shoulder couldn't stop Grimmjow from taking it as far as he liked. The sixth espada ran his hand from the redhead's knee up her thigh, the addictive feeling of having someone he loved to him only was getting to his head. Her arms flailed as he carried her across the room and laid her across the bed, hair splayed across the pillow. Her jacket become a white backdrop against red hair and the black velvet sheets under her body.

"Please Sola." He said in between kisses, "I love you more then he does."

"Grim... Stop." Her breathing is heavy and labored. Grimmjow took it as a good sign and dips his head down to her lips again. She made a muffled sound.

A cool hand lands on the panther's shoulder and drags him off roughly. The panther lands on the ground with a growl, ready to spring.

"What the hell Ulquiorra!" He yelled at the figure before him.

"..." The bat gingerly held the girl up and tilts her chin, starring at her pupils. A cough finally broke out from Sola's lips, a drop of blood colors her now pale lips. A rattled breath and her iris is cloudy. "Get out." The edge under his baritone voice gave Grimmjow a start.

"..." The panther did not say anything, only stared at the blood the redhead's lips, slowly dripping.

"I'm sorry." The sixth opened his mouth to say something else but thought better of it.

The bat crossed the room and shut the door, locking it. Turning around, the green eyed man rushed to the woman's side. His fingers wipes away the blood on her lips and cupped her face with both of his hands. His eyes are burning like emerald fire.

"You're hurt."

Cool hands are soothing on her cheeks, so familiar and sweet. The patch of moonlight they occupy seem to help her as they illuminate his features. The black dots in front of her eyes flared, demanding the woman's attention. Her head sunk to his chest, eyes closing. The warmth of her body made the fourth pause with shock. Yet it felt so intimate and right, Ulquiorra put his arms around the woman. In the silence of the night, he listens to her breathing and feel it warming his chest.

After the panic of seeing her reiatsu blinking in and out recedes, the bat sunk deep into confusion.

Why had he been so angry at the sight of the panther carrying Sola to her bed? Even recalling that moment brings an ugly, violent feeling to his chest. The emerald eyed man had wanted badly to tear the sixth to shreds when he saw the man kiss her. When the raven haired man saw the other pull her into his arms, the stabbing pain assaulted him, it rooted him to the spot and mocked him. Yet not even that pain could compare to the overwhelming worry when he shifted his senses and feel the weakness within her.

The blood on her lips, it reminds him of other times. Suddenly he's ashamed that he wasn't able to protect her, again. Whatever happened nearly killed her.

He wasn't able to protect her from harm.

Why does he even feel the need to protect her? The bat frowns, he never had any of those feelings before she came crashing into his life. The espada stares down at the woman's sleeping face. She looks less guarded in sleep, almost fragile with her delicate features. Her pale lips seem to demand his attention. Her lovely cheeks have lost its usual color, the bat thought with a worried pang. Her eyes are closed, the long lashes were a dark red that stood out against her pale face. Even sick and pale, she was beautiful. Sola inspired something he didn't know he have. She drives him crazy. Somehow with her around, he seems to be feeling things that wasn't suppose to exist. Yet while he's going insane with his own thoughts, there she is. With every look, gesture and step she manage to drive him farther from his usual comfort zone, out into things he never knew before. Insanely, the bat wandered in the muddled confusion she had made of his brain. Seeing Sola is as if Ulquiorra was sinking into quick sand, the more he resists, the faster he sinks. Yet the deeper he goes, he seems to mind it less and less, even if she's knocking the breath right out of him. The espada sighs, he's truly in stranger's territory. The pale espada never felt like this before. Where just a look at her face seems to calm him down. With one look, all of his raging emotions seem to scatter and dissolve, leaving a warm, sweet feeling traveling through his whole body and back. Suddenly, Ulquiorra is content to hold her, to simply stay like this forever.

_Perhaps this is what a heart is_. A voice in the back of Ulquiorra's mind whispers teasingly, and the bat scrawled at the treasonous thought from his mind.

This is simply a phase, and it will pass. There is no such thing is a heart. Unconsciously, he held her tighter and swallows. It has to be, because there's no such thing.

And because there was no way the bat can take much more of this fluttering in his heart, but of course, there was no way he would even admit that to himself.

A slight murmur that escaped her lips sounded suspiciously like his name. The redhead's body squirmed in his gasp and, impossible as it seems, got closer to him then ever. Something pulsed in his chest. For the first time in his existence, cuatro took a shuddered breath.

Damn.

A sudden flash of heat vibrated through him. The bat feels strange. As gently as he could, Ulquiorra laid Sola across the bed. Standing to leave, he pauses as he sneaked a peak at the girl. Her blood red hair splayed brightly against the black velvet sheets and tangles around her left wrist. She looks like a doll as she laid there, resting against the soft bed. Her long legs were smooth and creamy. She looks so peaceful yet so open and vulnerable. Ulquiorra pauses, something about her simply stirred foreign and alien things in him. Yet she looks so wonderful that he couldn't help himself as he bent down and put his dark lips against her forehead like a promise.

* * *

The blue eyed walked down the hallway, looking utterly defeated. The image of Ulquiorra tilting Sola's chin upwards surfaces again and again in his mind. They looked like they belonged together, heaven made match. Her red, passionate fire against his dark elegance, Grimmjow felt like he had no place there, no business. In that moment, the panther had been an outsider, unwanted and discarded.

Grimmjow hated it. It wasn't fair that the bat got to have her when he couldn't even show any emotions. The bastard was about as warm as a block of polar ice cap. Yet in that room, it was clear who had Sola's heart, even if the bat would break it, even if he, Grimmjow Jaggerjack, would have treated her far better and loved her far more then the fourth could even imagine. Yet his defeat came so easily when the damned cuatro peeled him away from the woman he loves like an unwanted piece of dirt.

It wasn't fair. The panther turns and punches a hole through the nearest wall.

He won't give up, not yet. Sixta isn't one to give up without putting a fight in any situation, certainly not when it concerned the affection of his heart. The man stared at a near by window, and the moon glowed at him mockingly. His fist clenches and then loosens, once, twice. Jaggerjack bites his lips and glared at the chaste goddess Artemis above him. He's not giving up, not yet. Even if the bat doesn't realize it, the two will be fighting for the dragon's heart. Even Stark seem to be around her more then needed lately. But Grimmjow is going to give it his all to convince Sola that he's the right one for her. Either way, one thing is for certain in his mind.

It hurts too much to leave the situation as it is.


	10. A Time for Thoughts

**I'm someone's favorite~ I'm happy ~^-^~ Thank you MexiKim 3 I sometimes don't have time but I'll try to update more often, or at least make the chapters longer like the last chapter. **

**Well on a random note, I had a dream about ice cream. In the dream, every time I got some ice cream, it was somehow taken away from me. I think a monkey took it once ;~;... them random dreams. I was sad and woke up with ice cream cravings.**

**How have you guys been? : P Let me know~ Leave a review~ x3**

* * *

Grimmjow truly wants to prowl into the desert right now, not because he needs to hunt. Well... What he want to do may count as hunting by some definition of the word. There was one thing though, the panther wasn't sure if she was his to prey on. After that embarrassingly, disastrously unsucessful advance upon Sola, his ego is most definitely bruised. Well, more like eradicated, but there wasn't much of a difference was there?

Whatever...

The feigned nonchalance couldn't fool himself. The sixth espada leans his head against the wall and sighs. He can't believe he was defeated by that stupid bat. The damn monster was unfeeling, cold, unfriendly, awkward, he isn't even that good looking! The blue haired man sulks. The agony of unrequited love is quite new to Grimmjow.

She was beautiful, fierce, and she was perfect in his arms. Sweet lips and soft body, touching her burns him. The feeling of her is like a brand on his heart, tattooed there to haunt him forever. Among his maimed ego, pride, and hurt from rejection, Grimmjow wants to give up. Yet there's something to sweetly perfect about the redheaded espada that keeps the panther stubbornly hanging on. He wish he can be the one for her, and if he can admit it to himself, somewhere in his heart, he still hopes that she would love him. That she would kiss him back with her arms wrapped around his neck and ten fingers joint together like knots.

And on a full moon night like this, she is probably gliding over the terrain with her normal grace and light steps, leaving footprints that would quickly be erased by the ever blowing wind. Her wild power running unbidden and untamed. Grimmjow sighs. If he was going to give up on the woman, his imagination is certainly not helping any. Nor the imaginary slide shows that runs through his head, ones that she would definitely kill him for, will help him any if he wants to get over her.

_"Nothing that would interest you." Scarlet hair, red ruby eyes and a serious expression. That was the first time he met her. The seed was planted then and since then took root and grew with every encounter._

_"Hey" Keep calm, keep your voice casual... Grimmjow mentally shook himself. Sola was just a fellow espada. The girl piques her interest. One feet over the other, and he found himself leaning on the window she was looking out of. _

_"Hello, Grim." After a few weeks, she had taken to call him Grim. The nickname stuck, and he found it rather endearing. The man enjoyed how she seemed so familiar with him. Every time she called him by that name, he felt closer to the mysterious woman. "Anything new lately?" She looked at him sideways, out of one bewitchingly red eye. A smirk adorned her lips, her hands were resting upon the window sill and the moonlight curled around her body perfectly. Damn, she was good. This is interesting..._

_"Nothing much, except this certain sexy redhead I want in bed with me..." He leaned close, speaking every symbol in a slow, deliberate way. The female espada stares back stoically, then she snorted. Suddenly she was laughing _

_"In your dreams Grim." She makes an amused sound in her throat and replied him methodically. Sola turns to look at him in the eye, her ruby-like eyes are so deep the panther feels like he's sinking into them._

_"That would be an excellent dream." He turns away, the girl can get past his guard so easily. Sixta has never met a woman who can make him feel this way before..._

_He can hear her soft laughter as she got up. "I got a mission to go on." Her voice seem to hide some amusement in it. She turns to look at him and teasing words sent a weird sensation into his head. "Sweet dreams, Grim." She dragged on his name on purpose, just like the way he slurs his words. He stares speechlessly at her retreating figure, with her jacket flowing elegantly behind her. _

_Damn._

Grimmjow couldn't help but smile at the woman's antics. The espada rubs his head with a pained sign. He's in so much trouble, Grim thought with a sign. Now he's smiling to nothing at all, what is he gonna do next, throw fits and let the most insignificant things in his life remind him of her? The espada sighs and orders some unfortunate soul to drink with him.

It's going to be a long long night if he was about to try to drown his feelings and drink her memories away.

* * *

She's out there right now. Ulquiorra thought, laying on the bed with his hands trapped behind his head. The espada's usually closed, smoothed down coat is open in an earlier fit of agitation. The blanket and sheets had to be changed, the pillows had to be replaced, the wall between his and whichever poor soul that happens to be living next door is still to be repaired. His fit has left his bed utterly destroyed, the wall pulverized and the maids panicking. The woman was, without a doubt, completely bewildered by her charge's behavior. Ulquiorra is a calm, and subdued man, forever careful and so painfully clean that most of the time the maid felt entirely unneeded. The said "calm" man was standing by her side, head turned other way was she inspected the room with her jaws dropping open and half certain that she was in a dream. In the end, the woman clamped close her jaws and set about cleaning up the tornado ravaged room. She did not know why he torn up the room, nor did she want to know.

One thing she is sure of is that whoever or whatever could have agitated the man must be the saint or the devil (she can't possibly decide which, she's just sure neither saint nor devil can save him/herself if they had done this). Sweet kami help us all, she thought as she fluffed a replaced pillow with a huff, anymore of this and the sun is going to start rising.

Now that the help has left, leaving behind her a flawlessly cleaned room (except that gigantic hole into the wall and some suspicious looking blood splatters that she definitely did not want to ask about). The master of the room flops on the bed. The new sheets were red velvet, according to the maid, they had been another espada's. Perfectly fine, she assured him, the maid switched it cause it clashed with the girl's hair.

A girl, he was using a woman's sheets. Ulquiorra is ready to throw another fit, but he wasn't sure whose sheets he would get next time. Besides... If the maid said that the red clashes with the woman's hair...

Then those would be Sola's. A lingering scent drafts off the pillow cases, it reminds him of her. The bat's attention falls back to the last time he had been in her room. The image pops into his head almost gleefully, the way her silky skin looks against the soft black silk, bloody red hair wrapping around her body. Then he thought about the blood, and the weakness so profound that Sola's usual composure shatters like a mirror and fell to pieces around her.

Damn it.

That night, Ulquiorra wasn't sure if he hates it or if he loves it. The memories of it comes haunting every night. In every corner shadow and step, it comes back to him, tantalizing, mocking. It's his humiliation and exhilaration all at once. The man can't stand it. Yet the facts are staring at him in the face ever since they crept out of the jail he and thrown them in that night in a moment of weakness. Now they are slipping away from him and refuse to get back into the deep dark pit that he shoves all his emotions in. Pandora's Jar is open now, and the "evils" are pouring out like a flood. That was the night he finally admitted, among all the panic that he had deep feelings for the woman in his arms. The electric tingle when her lips pressed to his skin, the sweetness that spread through him when she called him querida... Now that he was honest with himself, he could see how deeply she managed to make him fall. It's all overwhelming, it's mind boggling, it's shocking and numbing and inundating his mind. Cuatro was sorely tempted to get up and tear into the walls until all the weird new feelings in his head jumped back into the pit again. His hands were below him and he heaved himself off the bed. There is velvet under his fingers. With a weird impulse the fourth blade turns, and knelt by the bed, fingers caressing the red fabric softly. It reminds him of her, the color, the feel... Even a single remembrance manage to calm him down from the rage... Suddenly a wonderfully warm feeling spreads from his pale fingertips to the rest of his sculptured body.

Perhaps he didn't want them to get back into the deep dark hole. The pale hollow's hand went up and tangled themselves in his hair. Ulquiorra has no idea how he feels about what's going on. A mix of every emotion flows like rapids. Red, red is the color in his mind. Red of her hair, red of her eyes, red of her blood, red of her aura, red of passion... But he is getting off track. Whatever this feeling is, it's making him crazy. One moment he wants to blast something to cinders and the next he want to hug his sheets, bury his face into the pillow, and then perhaps go and kill that blasted cat that had his hands all over Ulquiorra's woman and that damn lazy number one, along with that irritating mantis too... Wait, his woman? What? Just what in the world is happening to him?

_You love her_, something seems to be whispering. Thoughts such as those has been plaguing his mind for so long, and by this point, the espada's defenses might as well be air. I love her. He thought automatically. The thought was familiar, as if it has been spoken in the same way countless times before. Ulquiorra grimaces, and covers his face with his graceful fingers. He was in a world of trouble, the man has fallen down the rabbit hole. Everything seems so foreign to him now, and he's in the middle of deciding if he likes it or not. He should deny it, there's no such thing.

Cherry red lips, eyes like gem stones and spirit like fire, her image appear behind his eyelids again. Ulquiorra's mind flashes back to how she looks in his arms, head against his chest, body fitting into his in all the right places. His lips perk up at the corners and he turns to watch the full moon shine. Every single one of her image seem to be embedded into his memory, more vivid then anything else. Sola Dracoleon proved him utterly wrong that night in the dark. The woman has defeated him completely. There was no chance for him to win even from the very beginning.

But her beauty, her smile, and that kiss.

This could be enjoyable after all.

As long as he has her.

It's fine to indulge in his whims right? As long as no one knew about it, he would be fine. His heart is a fine mess. All Ulquiorra wants right now is to stalk over to where ever that infuriating woman happens to be right now and repeat what he did that night when he left. For the first time in the bat's life, he wants to touch someone. The green eyed man wants to kiss her again, the way he kissed her that time, and in other places, all over her body. From her lips to her toes. But no, of course not, he can hide his feelings, he can hide it perfectly. All the incidents that happened before will not happen again. Cuatro thought, he can stop himself from all the blasted foreign feelings in his head right now. Even if he and Sola happen to be alone together.

No, he doesn't want to kiss her, doesn't want to hold her or run his hands all over her body and feel her heavy breathing. He simply will not wrap his arms around her thin wrist and press his lips against hers hard. Nor would Ulquiorra ever think of tilting her chin, or feeling her body snug against his. He would never think of anything that goes even farther still. The green eyes espada clears his throat, standing to pace around the room with nervous energy. No, not at all, the hollow thoughts are as distant as ever.

Yeah right. The nervous footsteps halt, and the man slumps down to the bed again.

_A flash of scarlet on the desert sand, reflected in the desert moon. The moon above their heads, round and full._

_The single horn that rises from the head of blood red hair._

_Long, dark red lashes, the wind that blew sand on her eyelids and dusted them with gold._

_Another time another day, her sleeping face was but a breadth away from his. A slight, waning smile graced her full lips, her breathe tickled his face. Her red hair spread out like a splash of red paint on canvas. Her marble chiseled features are prim. The dragon seem to snug closer to his body. She was warm... The hollow is painfully aware of her slender hand resting ever so innocently atop his chest. _

_A low and raw voice, whispered in the safety of their own secrecy. Sad eyes, sweet look, oh how she makes him sway. My querida... She says, and the dangerously seductive kiss landed on his cheek. _

_Pained look and deep eyes, her face dips down to his chest. The graceful way her neck curves is enough to make any swan jealous. The weight of her head on his chest. Ulquiorra could swear she is still there, he can still feel it..._

With a sigh he got up again.

Love is a troublesome thing. There is no way anyone enjoys this, how could anyone enjoys this kind of slow torture? Ulquiorra thought with a silent wail, if only he could get rid of this frustrating feeling. If everything goes back to the way it used to be...

Then his thoughts went back to Sola.

_Here we go again..._

* * *

**Though I hoped that the updates would be longer (and sorry, it's late, I get it, but I have prep school, and my brain has been absent since... well, since it started.) I just thought it was perfect to end it the way it is, right there, to show that the debates in Ulqiorra's head is continuously repeating. Thanks for dealing with me you guys T^T... I know it's hard with my inconsistent updates. I hope you like it, perhaps I'll go back and install what Grimmjow is thinking too, (and hopefully that would be a hearty 1800 words part like Ulquiorra's and yeah, I'm writing this at almost 12 at night... and if you finished this chapter and found a part about Grimmjow or Stark, then it was added on after I wrote all this nonsensical and useless rambling. Let's all admit it though, you love this rambling, cause it's funny, and for some of you it's the best part of the whole fanfic, which is honestly really kinda sad if that's the case, but still, and man this is a long ass parenthesis.). Anyway, always feel free to leave me reviews o3o tell me what you think. I'll give you chocolates for it (they just might not get to your house, they might get to the wrong place... like my stomach) And wheeeee~ I should go update my Grimmjow story. I'm sorry T-T I'm sorry to those who had been waiting for me to update often. I don't even know the date well, especially since it's summer half the time I'm not sure how many weeks it's been since my last update. You guys can stone me for that... Just not too hard, and maybe use candy instead of rocks. If you ever feel impatient, you can always leave a review/or a kick and rush me on it. I'll try to get it done, even if I am lazy (see how much I love you guys? I fight my own human nature for you) Sometimes I get busy too, but I'll be sure to reply you when I can. Again, love you guys~ ^^~~~~ Lots of kisses, (if you want my kisses, if you don't I understand that too) until next update~ (which might be sooner if you leave a threat/curse/review. I'll take all three.)  
**

**Well I finished it the next day : D Hope you guys like it, it's a hearty three thousand words one, which is like, double then what the chapters used to be! Hope you guys enjoy this and review please!**


	11. Repeating Scenes

**I know it's been super long since I last posted. I'm really sorry. It's junior year in high school for me (yes, I'm 16). I packed my schedule and been really busy. School work combined with prep is pretty staggering, plus I'm also trying to learn to program. I'm taking classes in school and I downloaded Ren'py(very nice VN engine, by the way). It's getting full, so please bear with me... I'm very sorry...**

* * *

The team landed in confusion and bewilderment. They had excepted to be dispatched to deal with a group of adjucas in the human world. Yet what stood before them was an endless sea of white sand. The eternal night greeted them with a mocking kind of silence. The group of death gods stood dazedly in the desert. How had the gate brought them here?

"Third seat?" A girl called out to a silver haired woman uncertainly. The tall woman turned around, cautiously scanning their surroundings with a hand on the hilt of her zanpakuto strapped across her waist. The third seat frowned, she felt no presence of any hollow around her, much less any adjucas. They were in the hueco mundo. The spiritual power was thick like it is in Soul Society, yet there was something unsettling about the seemingly peaceful desert. But then again, perhaps it was just her nerves speaking.

After a moment of tense silence, the raven haired girl tried again, "Third?"

"Yes, yes... I hear ya." The officer muttered quietly, turning, "Hoshimi, conceal your presence, go as high as you can and scan the area for me. I can't feel anything but I want to be sure, and you are the best recon we got."

"Hai." Curtly the newbie answered and left instantly.

"Kaito." A man with black hair looked at his leader. "Do a check to make sure everyone's here and safe." The third seat ran a hand through her silvery hair and teased the loose leather choker around her neck. The woman's uniform was simplified down to a black kosode with cut short sleeves and cut skirt. She worn long fishnet leggings and traditional warajii sandals. A white slash with a special horizontal sheathe adorned her waist and held her zanpakuto. Black arm and ankle guards finished off the attire. The silver haired shinigami paced, she can feel no one yet there was something that made her feel watched. The circumstances of how she got here was also suspicious. The team was approved, there was no error and everything went smoothly. So how come the gate dumped them here? Was that even possible? Wearily, the third seat turned her attention to another problem. With so much spiritual power, there were bound to be predators around here... Her amber eyes scanned their surroundings again. This must be the calm before the storm.

"Everyone's here Abe-san, but Haru has collapsed." Kaito's voice cut into her thoughts. The officer felt even more suspicious. Haru might have been new, but she passed her exam with flying colors and showed much potential. There was no way the shinigami would collapsed out of the blue. So what's happening here?

"Check her." Kaito nodded. Not only did the man transer from the fourth division long ago, but also the two were close friends. They both knelt beside the girl.

"What in the world..." The leader muttered as she looked at the patient. The girl was mumbling incoherently. A white substance dribbled from her lips down and hardened, covering the girl's chin. Kaito put a hand to the material and scraped. The yellow eyed girl frowned. This strangely looked like a hollow mask. Feels like it too, she thought as she put a hand to the whiteness on the other girl's chin. Like bone, she thought. Yet it was ridiculous, there was never a mention that shinigamis can turn into hollows. There was something unnatural afoot, and the confused officer was weary.

She only grew more alarmed as the shinigamis around her begun to feel weak. Many begun to pass in and out of consciousness while others fell to their knees. The silver haired girl stood, looking at the death gods under her command. "Kaito..." She whispered, yet got no answer. The black haired man was barely standing. She helped him sit down.

"I... don't feel too good, Kei." The man looked up at her with his blue eyes. Kei sighed, Kaito must feel really muddled if he let the formalities slide. She herself was feeling a bit nauseous. Swallowing down the feeling, Kei let herself think it was only her nerves after seeing all of the death gods like this.

"What cou..." Her sentence cut off as she felt the spiritual powers appear. Instantly her knife was in her hand. Kei bit into her lip until she tasted blood. Two shadows emerged from the darkness of some of the near by boulders. Soon the moonlight illuminated their features. One had emerald eyes and green stripes falling down his cheeks. The other had blood red hair and ruby-like eyes. Both had pieces of their masks attached to their faces. Kei inwardly cursed, the two were vaste lordes. Yet it was the figure behind them that brought her more shock.

"Aizen." The third seat couldn't hide the disbelief in her voice. "How... how are you here? With those lordes?" Her lieutenant's glasses were off, and he had a smile on his face.

Disregarding what the girl said, he inspected the rest of the shinigamis. "How disgusting." The disparity between his tone and words only made it creepier. "Bunch of useless souls, failures."

"What are you playing at?" Kei stared incredulously at her superior officer. Her casual voice wore off as she grew serious. "Did you cause this?" There were a million other questions on her lips. Where was his glasses? What could he be doing with two lordes? Why is he so calm when all the injured were from his squad?

What was Aizen fukotaichou doing in Hueco Mundo?

Kei couldn't ask any of those questions. Without a warning, Aizen commanded something unforgivable in his quiet, soothing voice.

"Do it."

The redhead nodded numbly, stepping forward with her sword. Aizen's command was half drowned out by Kei's frustrated scream, yet Sola understood. In that instant, the amber eyed shinigami lost what was left of her composure. She shunpo'd towards Sola in her attempt to stop the hollow. Yet an emerald eyed man was suddenly beside her. With ease, he pulled both her arms behind her and restrained her. The third seat could only watch with mute horror as the female lorde slaughtered her squad members.

The air smelled of blood and sounded of screams. There was a furious sound from the silver haired shinigami as Sola begun the deadly dance of her sword. Ulquiorra observed everything clearly. They were called by Aizen to join him for a mission and complied so. When they arrived, the group of death gods were already there. He watched as the woman knelt and examined another. What trash, he thought. Out of all of them, the only one remotely powerful was the silver haired one that he's holding captive, and not even her proved to be any challenge.

Yet there was something interesting here. Despite the difference in hair and eye color, this "Kei" and Sola's bone structure and features were quite alike. Even some of their expressions were similar. Aizen-sama must be planning something, the bat thought. The shinigamis are easy to take care of, especially in their weakened state. Emerald orbs watched the battle. The man with the black hair had dodged a hit from Sola, in his desperation he had jumped right next to the three, Ulquiorra, Kei and Aizen. With a deadly stroke of the blade, Sola cut a wide slash across the man's throat. The blood splattered over all three of them. Cuatro's captive gave a strangled sound as the death god fell.

"You!" The amber eyed woman said in a hoarse, low voice. Suddenly Ulquiorra felt the coldness of a knife slice through his shoulder. The woman manage to wiggle out of his grasp in a boost of adrenaline. Like a furious cat, the girl threw herself at Aizen, who stood motionlessly with a smug look. A silver flash and there was a cut on Aizen's face. Calmly, the brunette grabbed both of Kei's wrists and squeezed. The knife clattered out of Kei's numb hands and he looked at her with a satisfied smirk.

"Very nice, Kei." His voice was still gentle and calm. "Even in your weakened state, you managed to harm me. Albeit I had my guard down, yet it was impressive."

The addressee, of course, couldn't care less for Aizen's compliment.

Her silver hair is mingled with blood. Out of the whole group that arrived, she was the only one left. The sound of death and slaughter has died down, replaced by eerie silence. Sola stood before the bodies. Her red hair is also stained and sticky with blood. Her sword at his side was dyed with dry blood. The woman before her had a wickedly sharp knife in her red stained hands. Ulquiorra stood behind her with a slowly healing slash on his shoulder. The night is silent, broken by only the shinigami's ragged breathing. Kei half fell, half sat when Aizen let go of her wrists. Her whole frame heaved, long limbs folded and back arched.

Drip, drip, her tears wet the desert sand, mingled with white liquid. The silvery haired woman looked up. The white substance had begun its work, covering her face in a hollow mask. The delicate features the shinigami's face were an echo of Sola's, only sharper and more defined, Ulquiorra noted again. Though similar, her face possessed a bird like sharpness that Sola did not have. Yet the similarity was easy to see, but perhaps that was because he knew Sola's fast as well as he known his own. Now the woman's face was twisted with grief as she looked at the man standing calmly before her.

"Aizen... How could you..." The woman's light and startling amber eyes seem to glow brighter with tears. As she cried a white liquid mingled with the salty liquid and hardened as it fell. "How could you betray us?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, "You are wonderful, Kei-chan." Aizen's smile seemed so empty and wrong that Sola nearly shuddered. Ulquiorra watched the exchange motionlessly. The brunette man let his fingers trail a slow line along Kei's jaw and under her chin. With a smile he tipped her face up. The woman's lovely features were almost completely covered by the forming mask now. Only her left eye remain uncovered. Behind the mask, her right eye turned red, lined with circles of gold. The girl tried to snarl, but it came out as a weak sigh. Her fall frame shivered.

"You are like no other." Aizen said in his most seductive whisper. "Such power... Where others failed you thrived. You even manage to get away from Ulquiorra in this state." The smirk on his lips seem to scare her. Kei tried to turn away, yet his fingers won't let her go, they squeezed until it hurt. Too exhausted to fight him, she stared at him again. He ran a hand across the now hardened mask.

"A work of art you are, Kei Abe. I watched you for a long time, even while you were in the academy. You were always brilliant. Yes despite your brilliance they shunned you because your disregard for rules. I watched as you rose from the ranks, distinguished as talented and smart. When I deemed you ready, I pulled strings to get you transferred to the fifth division. From the moment you transferred into the fifth division as the third seat I knew I was right about you. During battles you always found the best strategies to win with minimal effort. Even your shikai, unlocked in remarkable time, I may add, was useful and enhanced your battle abilities. You had, and still have, so much potential. Even after your power surpassed that of another third seat I made sure you stayed as my third seat so you were close by. I had to have you close for my experiments. You are the perfect material. You are also intelligent and sharp witted. And today, you proved me right."

"Join me, Kei. There's something special about you that made you function where others do not. The process usually makes a shinigami unfit to battle for a long time, yet you are able to retain your vitality. Even more so, people usually lose their sanity to their inner hollow for a while. Yet you... Your special circumstances make you quite appealing. Let me unlock your true potential, love. " His voice is low, rumbling as he leaned closer to her face, "I can make you my queen."

"Go. To. Hell." Her voice came from behind the mask.

The expression on Aizen's face froze, his fingers rested on the cool, smooth mask plastered to the girl's face. His eyes narrowed again. The brunette was a possessive man. After thousands of years of getting whatever he wanted with the simpliest of manipulations, he never thought he would be refused by a mere girl, defeated and ripe within his hands.

"I will never join you." Kei's voice seems stronger now and she snarled. Her reishi rose, its golden color flaring into the pale white sand. The darkened night lit up, she was like a second moon rising into the night. Her eyes flashed amber once before returning to red, her voice nearly broke as she spoke her desperate anger, "I, Kei Abe, swear that one day I will destroy you."

His fingers seemed rigid, and he let go, turning away. The man's anger is clearly present and his voice drifted back across his shoulder, flowing like his cloak.

"So be it." Aizen's soft voice sounded unusual. Sola can catch a hint of anger or hurt in it, and it amazed her. "Come along Sola." He said to the redhead as he walked away stiffly, without a single glance backwards, he addressed Ulquiorra, "Take care of her."_  
_

* * *

He looked at the woman again. She had sat down beside the bodies of the dead shinigamis, head bent over, staining her robes with the coppery liquid. How foolish to look so pathetic yet refuse to bend to the will of someone superior. It was foolish, and for her unreasonable emotions she will die. So Ulquiorra lifted up his sword and moved closer. The moon's light gleamed off Murcielago and hit her eye. The silvernette looked up.

Ulquiorra wouldn't help but stare. Kei's eyes were blood red, same as Sola, behind the mask. Bitter tears slowly dripped from the mask and made a glistening arc down the white bone. He remembered another pair of such red, tear stained eyes.

_The desert sand lit golden by the fire of the dragon, her red eyes misted over with tears, falling. The blood all over her hands glistened in copper and slowly turning brown. The wind was blowing every which way, and the sand dusted her eyelids gold and her lips seem to glitter. The hunters laid dead behind her, eyes unseeing. Her flames were so bright. It burned her image into his eyes. Yet she was crying with heartbroken sounds. The flames died down slowly as she reverted out of her release form. She fell to her knees, and he with her. Her sword fell to the sandy ground. The sounds were echoing in his mind and all he wanted to do was stop her crying. Sola kept on crying. Her eyes stared beyond him. In that state she couldn't see him at all, completely unaware, trapped in some nightmare she couldn't get out of._

_There was absolutely no way the white hollow could face her tears. Yet he could do nothing, she couldn't see him._

_"... So... la..." His words struggled out, and his arms went protectively around her. She clutched at him, hard, breaking down the skin as she cried. He winced but kept on holding her. They were both desperately hanging on to each other._

_Her scream ran out in the air and echoed..._

The sword wavered in the air and he put it down again. With a sort of urgency he wasn't entirely sure of, he opened a portal to the human world. Shaken, Ulquiorra only looked at the woman again. Her eyes were staring up at him again, echo of the woman he so desperately needed to protect, and failed to. Taking her arm, he roughly shoved her through. She flailed and he felt it as her reishi disappeared through the portal. The darkness swallowed the girl's silvery hair along with the familiar ruby red eyes.

Perhaps it wasn't right of him to disregard Aizen-sama's order just to feed a desire from his past, but Ulquiorra didn't care. All he can remember is the tears that fell from red eyes, and how Ulquiorra left her.

He left her, haunted and alone for his own selfish pursuits, even when she only ever wanted to be with him. He couldn't protect her, he left his promise broken and forgotten her in the process. He wasn't even sure what he did just now was any repentance. Yet Kei had reminded Ulquiorra of Sola, and he couldn't watch her tears fall to bring down the blade.

What has he done? The bat rubbed his temples. He had gone against Aizen-sama's orders. Even now these feelings were so sweet yet so hauntingly painful, mingled with guilt and sadness. The domes of Las Noches loomed up like a pale ghost in the even paler desert. Numbly his feet begun to move and carry him back to the palace, back to her.

He wants to kiss her, wants to hold her and tell her how sorry he is and how much he loves her.

And this time he won't leave her again, not ever.

* * *

**Again I am really really sorry that it's this late. I really didn't intend to delay my uploads but it's been so hectic lately... I think I want to make it up to you guys by doing a seven minute in heaven thing for a bunch of animes/mangas. With lots of fluff and comedy involved, tell me what you think. And again I am really really sorry it's been that long...**


End file.
